Union holds rally to build support for health workers

Grace Leong

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

The Nevada Service Employees Union Local 1107 is bringing up to 100 nurses and health care workers to a Wednesday rally in a show of support for workers in contract negotiations on staffing and pay issues with several hospitals in Las Vegas.

This follows a tentative agreement reached Aug. 12 between University Medical Center and the union, which calls for salary increases and benefits outlined in a classification and compensation study to be extended to all permanent UMC employees not covered by another collective bargaining agreement.

The health care union rally, which will take place at noon in front of UMC's Trauma Building, includes workers from UMC, the Clark County Health District, Valley, Desert Springs and Sunrise hospitals.

"UMC is a natural place for this event, as we recently settled a great union contract with the hospital," said Vicky Hedderman, NSEU's president.

This agreement, which calls for a four-year contract with wage increases retroactive to July 1, 1998, will remain in effect through June 30, 2002. Clinical-level medical directors will receive the salary adjustment for only fiscal years 1999 and 2000.

The agreement also covered issues concerning UMC wanting to "float" nurses between jobs in which they weren't trained and differences over on-call schedules. Nurses had raised concerns about being called back to work too soon between shifts.

"This gathering is a show of unity for health care workers across the valley," said Maryanne Dawicki, NSEU field representative. "It demonstrates to health care workers how much more strongly they can bargain as part of a union."

"With the UMC contract settled, Wednesday's event will kick off our union's focus on the shared goal of protecting our patients and protecting our jobs at Desert Springs, Valley and Sunrise Hospitals," said Kevin Collins, NSEU assistant executive director.

"As our union now represents nearly 75 percent of all hospital beds in Southern Nevada, we are now prepared to bargain similar contacts in united action at these hospitals to raise their standards to the level set by UMC," he said.

"The workers at Sunrise have been in negotiations for a few months now, but the nurses at Desert Springs are now at the bargaining table on job security and patient healthcare issues," Dawicki said.

The NSEU, which represents nearly 10,000 workers, is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which has 1.4 million members.